1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to food preparation equipment of the type including cutters and molds used in processing and shaping dough to form biscuits, cookies, cakes and the like and particularly to dough cutters and cooperative molds which may be utilized to form or cut a plurality of individual shapes from a batch of dough without leaving excess dough to be reworked or discarded. The cutting elements of the present invention may include a single cutter having angularly related linear cutting edges which taper upwardly to define a single circular biscuit forming or shaping cavity. The cutting element may be used with a cooperatively shaped mold which may in one embodiment include a plurality of arcuately shaped wall portions and in a second embodiment may include a plurality of angularly related straight wall portions.
2. History of the Related Art
In applicant's prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,606,716 issued Aug. 19, 1986 and 4,664,928 issued May 12, 1987, a mold and biscuit cutter and method for molding and making biscuits is disclosed which enables a batch of dough to be cut and shaped without leaving any waste dough to be reworked or rebatched in a subsequent cutting or molding process. In today's fast food industry, there is a need to reduce costs by conserving food ingredients and reducing the amount of waste materials associated with the food preparation process. As discussed in applicant's prior patents, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, it is possible to almost eliminate waste dough from the preparation of biscuits by utilizing specially shaped biscuit cutters which are utilized with cooperatively shaped mold elements.
As taught in applicant's aforementioned patents, a prepared batch of dough may be placed in a specially shaped mold element and thereafter a cutter element cooperatively seated with respect to the mold thereby severing the batch of dough into a plurality of equally shaped segments without leaving any excess dough to be reworked or reshaped with a subsequent batch of dough. In the patents, it is noted that in order to provide an end product which is aesthetically pleasing to the consuming public, i.e. edible products having a generally circular shape, it is preferred that the mold and cutter elements be formed so as to define generally hexagonally shaped wall segments. It is possible that additional wall segments could be utilized so long as the mold and cutter elements cooperatively seat with one another and so long as each of the dough segments when cooked assumes a generally circular configuration.
In order to further increase the aesthetic quality of a biscuit, cookie or other baked product, applicant has now developed a cutter which may be utilized with a cooperative mold which will form the edible product into a more circular shape upon being heated and cooked. There are numerous prior art patents and other disclosures of cutting elements having generally circular molds and cutting edges. Some examples o such prior art cutters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 414,452 to Sidway, 1,172,057 to Scherffius, 1,299,802 to Smith, 1,399,449 to Trethewey, 1,477,693 to Clark and 2,526,811 to Dawson. In each of the foregoing references, a cutter or mold is disclosed having one or more circular shaped molds or cutting elements associated therewith. Although the cutters may be utilized to form uniform circular shapes, when forming such shapes there has been no consideration to insuring that no waste material is left from each cutting process. Unfortunately, the nature of the circular shape itself leads to a great deal of excess material being left with each batch of dough as the circular patterns may only be closely associated with respect to one another in various patterns having a plurality of gaps formed therebetween such as clearly shown in the referenced patent to Trethewey. Therefore, although these cutters provide for aesthetically pleasing circularly shaped comestible products, they do not provide structures which will alleviate the formation or creation of waste dough or other material which must be either discarded or subsequently reworked with another batch of dough or similar comestible product.
In applicant's prior patents, biscuit cutters and molds were disclosed which practically eliminated any waste material from being processed from one batch of dough to another. With the structures being utilized, a plurality of angularly related wall portions were secured to one another so as to cut the dough within the mold in such a manner that no waste material was left. Prior to applicant's invention, the prior art had recognized that various shapes of cutters could be provided so as to eliminate waste between each of the separate cutter elements. Such structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 337,329 to Hewett and Australian Pat. No. 203375 to Whalley. It should be noted that in these references, there is no suggestion of incorporating a mold to retain the material so that the mold and cutters cooperate to insure that no excess dough remains surrounding the cutting elements as is the case with applicant's prior inventions.
In addition to the foregoing, applicant is also aware of prior art as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,872,757 to Hargadon and 4,516,923 to Lifshitz et al. The reference to Hargadon discloses a cutter having a plurality of shaped cutter and mold elements which are in the general configuration of hexagons having a plurality of angularly oriented side wall portions The uppermost edge of each of the mold elements is tapered inwardly to form a generally circular flange which fits through a supporting sheet so that the hexagon molds and cutting elements can be selectively carried by the supporting sheet. In the use of such a cutter and mold, as the side walls of each of the molds is generally flat and the molds hexagonally cross sectioned, any biscuits or other comestible products formed therein would assume an initial hexagonal configuration similar to that formed by applicant's prior patents and as disclosed by several of the above discussed prior art references.
The patent to Lifshitz et al. discloses a double molding board which includes hexagonal cutting edges on which a dough material is initially spread and cut. Circular openings are provided adjacent each of the cutting edges in order to provide access to force material from the cavities defined by the hexagonal cutting edges by allowing the opposing feet or studs attached to an adjoining section of the mold to pass therethrough as the mold sections are closed with respect to one another.
In view of the foregoing, the prior art has not recognized the need to provide both a cutter and mold for comestible products including dough for making biscuits, cookies, cakes and the like which both assures a pleasing round configuration of the product both prior to and after being heated or cooked and which also enables the product to be prepared without waste or reworking of the initial dough material.